Not Just a Comic Book
Until recently I couldn't understand the graphic novel/comic book craze. Sure, as a child my family had old Archie, Katy Keene, and, of course, Conan comic books. I read what we owned multiple times but I never sought to increase my personal comic collection, which consisted of maybe two comics, preferring the traditional block text book to panels and bubble-speak.
Since their increase in popularity, I have yet to delve into this genre. I read a manga once. The extent of my graphic novel experience, at least until the past week.
Never had I thought there could be so much substance to a graphic novel. But that's because as a librarian I've been lectured about the history of graphic novels but never told how they could be so exciting!
Nobody ever recommended WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
The super cool trailer for the movie version of WATCHMEN encouraged me to seek out the graphic novel, which passed in and out of my book drop without so much as a second glance. I decided to read the graphic novel to prepare for the film (which I hope isn't R-rated) and cannot stop thinking about it.
The last book I read that really got me thinking was Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks. Days after reading this, and even now, I'll zone out and think about the themes, plot, and characters in this gripping portrayal of a medieval village hit by plague.
WATCHMEN has had the same effect and I feel that in order to really understand this book, I'll have read it at least 10 times. Ideas for college essay papers keep flowing into my brain the further into the book I get.
For instance, superheroes are not perfect! The majority of superheroes in WATCHMEN have skeletons in their closets. They are prone to vice, vigilantism, and narcissism. Often the reader is left wondering who the real villains are. Similarly, real-life superheroes--figures in history that we tend to put on pedestals and make into legends--are also flawed. Historical revisionism is highly controversial. Do we really need to know that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with one of his slaves, fathering many of her children? Should we teach our children to admire and idolize the office of the President when he(although we have moved an inch in the direction of the possibility of having a she) can make awful decisions and lead a nation to its downfall?
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are some figures that I idolize. However, as I learn more about their lives I have to stop and ask myself: Do their imperfections define them? Does it matter that one cheated on his wife; the other slept naked with young women to "strenghen" his devotion to brahmacharya; or that they may have performed any other morally questionable acts? Does the principle of the matter--the fact that they had the courage to stand for justice and unity and then seek to right some major injustices in their societies--compensate for imperfection?
When we teach our kids to idolize figures in history--whether past or present--are we doing a disservice to them, creating an image of unattainable perfection? Or do we make it a necessary lesson in forgiving people for their weaknesses, thanking them for their positive and life changing contributions to the world, and then allowing them to move on and progress in life?
Each member of the WATCHMEN organization has his/her own personal moral code and sense of justice(really don't we all?), which often falls outside the boundaries of the law of the land. For some, putting on a mask makes it okay to beat the crap out of the bad guy. How about killing a child murderer/rapist? Were they more effective in keeping the streets safe because they were left to their own devices to protect the people and not restrained by the Constitution? [Of course, in the story an act was passed forcing the WATCHMEN into retirement (at least the ones who would obey) because of their methods.]
Sometimes we see our real-life heroes in the police force (and other heroes) who are charged with the responsibility to protect and serve the people making mistakes. Sometimes they lose control and beat their "bad guys" senseless, let racism cloud their vision, pull the trigger a little too easily, or accused with sexual misconduct while on duty.
So much to philosophize over and just a couple of themes in the book! I recommend checking out the book and reading at least a few chapters. It can be a little graphic at times (hence the genre name graphic novel) but it's really nothing more than what we see in the world around us.
Until recently I couldn't understand the graphic novel/comic book craze. Sure, as a child my family had old Archie, Katy Keene, and, of course, Conan comic books. I read what we owned multiple times but I never sought to increase my personal comic collection, which consisted of maybe two comics, preferring the traditional block text book to panels and bubble-speak.
Since their increase in popularity, I have yet to delve into this genre. I read a manga once. The extent of my graphic novel experience, at least until the past week.
Never had I thought there could be so much substance to a graphic novel. But that's because as a librarian I've been lectured about the history of graphic novels but never told how they could be so exciting!
Nobody ever recommended WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
The super cool trailer for the movie version of WATCHMEN encouraged me to seek out the graphic novel, which passed in and out of my book drop without so much as a second glance. I decided to read the graphic novel to prepare for the film (which I hope isn't R-rated) and cannot stop thinking about it.
The last book I read that really got me thinking was Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks. Days after reading this, and even now, I'll zone out and think about the themes, plot, and characters in this gripping portrayal of a medieval village hit by plague.
WATCHMEN has had the same effect and I feel that in order to really understand this book, I'll have read it at least 10 times. Ideas for college essay papers keep flowing into my brain the further into the book I get. For instance, superheroes are not perfect! The majority of superheroes in WATCHMEN have skeletons in their closets. They are prone to vice, vigilantism, and narcissism. Often the reader is left wondering who the real villains are. Similarly, real-life superheroes--figures in history that we tend to put on pedestals and make into legends--are also flawed. Historical revisionism is highly controversial. Do we really need to know that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with one of his slaves, fathering many of her children? Should we teach our children to admire and idolize the office of the President when he(although we have moved an inch in the direction of the possibility of having a she) can make awful decisions and lead a nation to its downfall?
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are some figures that I idolize. However, as I learn more about their lives I have to stop and ask myself: Do their imperfections define them? Does it matter that one cheated on his wife; the other slept naked with young women to "strenghen" his devotion to brahmacharya; or that they may have performed any other morally questionable acts? Does the principle of the matter--the fact that they had the courage to stand for justice and unity and then seek to right some major injustices in their societies--compensate for imperfection?
When we teach our kids to idolize figures in history--whether past or present--are we doing a disservice to them, creating an image of unattainable perfection? Or do we make it a necessary lesson in forgiving people for their weaknesses, thanking them for their positive and life changing contributions to the world, and then allowing them to move on and progress in life?
Each member of the WATCHMEN organization has his/her own personal moral code and sense of justice(really don't we all?), which often falls outside the boundaries of the law of the land. For some, putting on a mask makes it okay to beat the crap out of the bad guy. How about killing a child murderer/rapist? Were they more effective in keeping the streets safe because they were left to their own devices to protect the people and not restrained by the Constitution? [Of course, in the story an act was passed forcing the WATCHMEN into retirement (at least the ones who would obey) because of their methods.]
Sometimes we see our real-life heroes in the police force (and other heroes) who are charged with the responsibility to protect and serve the people making mistakes. Sometimes they lose control and beat their "bad guys" senseless, let racism cloud their vision, pull the trigger a little too easily, or accused with sexual misconduct while on duty.
So much to philosophize over and just a couple of themes in the book! I recommend checking out the book and reading at least a few chapters. It can be a little graphic at times (hence the genre name graphic novel) but it's really nothing more than what we see in the world around us.
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